Modular cabinet structure



United States Patent Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson Attorney--Trask, Jenkins, & Hanley ABSTRACT: A modular cabinet structure in which there is a pair of laterally spaced columns formed by a plurality of vertically stacked cabinets. Each cabinet is formed from a pair of side walls interconnected by top, bottom, and back walls. A locator assembly projects upwardly from the top wall into engagement with the bottom wall of the next higher cabinet for disposing adjacent pairs of cabinets in vertically spaced relation, and said pairs of adjacent cabinets are rigidly interconnected by fasteners. Fasteners are also provided for connecting the back walls of the cabinets to a supporting structure. Guides project inwardly from the side walls to slidably support at least one door for closing the front of each cabinet. Upper and lower shelves are provided with end portions lockingly receivable over the locator assemblies on a pair of vertically spaced cabinets on each of the two columns for thus interconnecting the columns. Said shelves are also provided with guide means which slidably support a pair of doors. A panel extends between said shelves at the rear thereoffor mounting a plurality of transverse vertically spaced shelves within the cabinet structure formed by said upper and lower shelves and the laterally spaced columns of cabinets.

Patented Nov. 24, 1970 Sheet INVENTORS CLAYTON R. HUME THOMAS s WEBB BY ATTORNEYS atented av. 24, 1970 Sheet INVENTORS CLAYTON R. HUME THOMAS G. WEBB W 9 K k 9 a m H 9 T r p3 W h M M 4 m u M Patented Nov. 245, 1970 354mm THOMAS G. WEBB 48 BY 42 lA-vLi/ S1\ (A 6d, ATTORNEYS INVENTORS i CLAYTON R. HUME MODULAR CABINET STRUCTURE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the preferred form of the invention, there is provided a cabinet structure comprising a plurality of reinforcing grommets 18 for the reception of fasteners 20 for vertically spaced cabinets each ofwhich is formed by a pair of side walls interconnected by back, top, and bottom walls. Pairs of guides project inwardly from the side walls at their forward edges and slidably support a pair of doors for closing the front of the cabinet. A plurality of flanges also project inwardly from the side and back walls to removably support a plurality of shelves thereon. Each of said cabinets is provided with an upwardly projecting locatorassembly on its top wall engageable with the bottom wall of the next higher cabinet for thus disposing adjacent pairs of cabinets irt spaced relation to each other. Fasteners are provided to extend between the top and bottom walls on adjacent cabinets for interconnecting them together and additional fasteners are adapted to project through the cabinet back walls for mounting the cabinets against a supporting structure.

The lowermost cabinet is supported on a base with the bottom wall of said cabinet engaging the top wall of said base. Said base top wall is interconnected by front and side walls and is provided with a plurality of openings for the reception of fasteners extending downwardly from. the cabinet bottom .wall for thus interconnecting said base to said cabinet at a plurality of different positions.

A pair of laterally spaced columns of cabinets is interconnected by a pair of transverse upper and lower shelves. Said upper shelf comprises a supporting surface having a pair of sockets formed at its opposed ends receivable over the locator assemblies on the uppermost cabinets in each of the two columns. The lower shelf also comprises a transverse supporting surface having a pair of sockets at its opposed ends receivable over the locator assemblies on a pair of cabinets in the two columns and engageable with the bottom walls of the next higher cabinets in each of said columns. Said upper and lower shelves are provided with opposed sets of guides adjacent their front edges for slidably receiving a pair of doors. A panel extends between said upper and lower shelves at the rear thereof and supports a plurality of hangers on which one or more intermediate transverse shelves may be removably mounted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. I is a front elevation of a cabinet structure embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 5-5 ofFlG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 6-6 ofFlG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the upper transverse shelf shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged isometric view of the lower transverse shelf shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section showing the door locking assembly. 2

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in the drawings, the invention comprises a plurality of modular cabinets 9 which are conveniently formed as plastic moldings and are identical in construction. Each of the cabinets 9 comprises a pair of side walls 10 interconnected by a back wall 12, top wall 14, and bottom wall 16. The back wall 12 is provided with openings 17 having rearwardly projecting connecting the cabinet to a wall or other supporting structure 22. Ribs 23 also project rearwardly from the cabinet back wall 1-2 with their rear faces coplanar with the rear faces of the grommets to thus permit said back walls to be mounted against the supporting wall structure 22 in parallelism therewith.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of vertically spaced flanges 26 project inwardly from-the cabinet side and back walls and are adapted to support a plurality of shelves 27. Each of said shelves is provided with a pair of downwardly projecting legs 28 along its sides and downwardly projecting legs 29 and 30 extending transversely across its rear and front edges, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, the leg 30 is also provided with forwardly projecting fingers 32 which extend forwardly of the supporting surface of the shelf. As shown, the shelves 27 are removably mounted on the cabinet bottom trails to and the various cabinet flanges 26.

When a pair of shelves 27 are removed from the flanges 2a, a bin 34 is mountable in the cabinet with its bottom wall resting on the shelf 27 on the cabinet bottom wall and its side walls supported against the inner edges of a pair of the flanges As shown in FIGS. 3 and 9, the forward edges of the side walls 10 project inwardly, as at 38. Each of said side walls is also provided with a pair of vertically extending, inwardly projecting ribs 39 and 40 disposed in a fore and aft spaced relation immediately forwardly of the flanges 26. The projections 38 and ribs 39 and 40 form opposed guides for slidably supporting upper and lower doors 42 and 44 adapted to close the front face ofthe cabinet. The lower door 42 is carried between the ribs 39 and 40(and to releasably lock said door in a raised position, the ribs 39 are provided with rearwardly projecting buttons 46 disposed in horizontal aline'ment with rearwardly oriented recesses 47 in the ribs 40. The door 42 also has rearwardly projecting buttons 48 at its upper end adjacent its lateral edges, whereby upon upward movement of the door, the buttons 46 in ribs 39 will force the door buttons 48 into locking engagement with recesses 47. In a similar manner, the projections 38 are provided with rearwardly projecting buttons 50 disposed in alinement with rearwardly oriented recesses 51 is the ribs 39. The door 44 has rearwardly projecting buttons 52 adjacent its upper ends which, upon movement of the door into its raised position, are received in the recesses 51 under the action of the action of the buttons 50 for releasably retaining the upper door 44 I111 its raised position. As shown, the buttons 46 and recesses 47 are disposed in position below the buttons 50 and recesses SI thereby permitting the doors to be releasably retained in positions such that the front of the cabinet can be closed or have its lower or upper half open to permit access to the various portions of the cabinet.

Each of the doors 42 and 44 is provided with a handle 55, and with the shelves 27 having their forwardly projecting fingers 32 abutting the flanges 40, the supporting surfaces of said shelves will be set rearwardly with respect to said handles so that the shelves 27 will not interfere with the vertical sliding movements of the doors. As shown in FIG. 5, a web 53 extends between each of the projections 38 and ribs 39 adjacent the lower end of the cabinet to form stops for the upper door 44 to prevent it from being lowered into a position in which its lower edge would strike the handle on the lower door 42.

The several cabinets are disposed in vertically spaced relation to each other and are separated by locators projecting upwardly from their top walls 14. Each of said locators comprises a pair of side wall members 56 continuous with front and rear wall members 57 and 58, all of said wall members being integral with the top wall 14. The wall members 56- 58 areset inwardly from the front, back and side walls of the cabinet and project upwardly from the top wall 14 into abutting engagement with the bottom wall 16 of the next higher cabinet. Bolts 60 extend downwardly from the bottom wall I6 of one cabinet through openings 61 in the top wall 14 of the next lower cabinet for the reception of nuts 62 to thus rigidly interconnect a pair of adjacent cabinets. The bolts are disposed within the extent of the wall members 56-58 and are thus hidden from view. Further, with one of the shelves 27 being supported on the bottom wall 16 by its legs 2830, the supporting surface of said shelf will be disposed above the heads of the bolts 60 and thus provide a smooth surface along the bottom of the cabinet.

The lowermost cabinet is supported on a base 66 comprising a front wall 67 connected to a pair of side walls 68 and a top wall 69. Conveniently, the side walls 68 are provided with a pair of inwardly extending braces 70 for strengthening said base. In order to connect the base 66 to the lowermost cabinet in a position to clearany molding 72 that might be mounted on the supporting wall structure 22, the top wall 69 extends rearwardly of the rear edges of the base side walls 68. The base top wall 69 is provided with a plurality of openings 73 adapted to receive bolts 74 projecting downwardly through openings 76 in the bottom wall 16 on the lowermost cabinet and received in nuts drawn up against the bottom face of the wall 69. By providing a plurality of openings 73, the base 66 can be located at a plurality of different positions with respect to the lowermost cabinet to accommodate different sized and shaped moldings 72 on the wall structure 22.

As shown in FIG. 1, two sets of the vertically stacked cabinets can be interconnected by upper and lower cross shelves 80 and 82. As shown in FIG. 7, the upper shelf 80 comprises a transverse supporting surface 83 having a pair of downwardly open sockets at its opposed ends. Each of said sockets comprises front and rear walls 84 and 85 interconnected by a top wall 86 and side walls 87 and 88, the walls 88 being connected to the adjacent ends of the supporting surface 83. Stops 89 project inwardly from the walls 84 and 85 adjacent the walls 88. The sockets on the shelf 80 are receivable over the side wall members 56-58 on the top cabinets on the two columns ofcabinets with the socket stops 89 and walls 84, 85, and 87 abutting the locator wall members 56-58. Openings 90 are also formed in the socket top walls 86 for the reception of bolts 92 extending downwardly through the openings 93 in the cabinet top walls 14 for the reception of nuts 94 to thus rigidly connect the top shelf 80 to the two columns of cabinets.

The shelf 82 is similar in construction to the shelf 80, and comprises a supporting surface 95 having a pair of sockets disposed at its opposed ends. Each of said sockets comprises a top wall 96 connected to front and rear walls 97 and 98, and a pair of side walls 100 and 101, the walls 101 being connected tothe adjacent ends of the supporting surface 95, Stops 102 project inwardly from the walls 97 and 98 adjacent the walls 101. As shown, the sockets on the shelf 82 are adapted to be received over the locators on a cabinet with the socket stops 102 and walls 97, 98 and 101 abutting the locator walls 56- -58. In such position, the socket top walls 96 abut the bottom walls 16 of the next higher cabinets, and said shelf is connected to the cabinets in which it is in abutting engagement by bolts 105 extending through the openings 76 in the cabinet bottom walls 16, openings 107 in the socket top walls 96, and the openings 93 in cabinet top walls 14 for reception of nuts 106. Thus, the shelves -80 and 82 rigidly interconnect and cross brace a pair of columns formed from the modular cabinet structures.

As shown in FIG. 6, the upper shelf 80 has a pair of downwardly projecting flanges 110 and 111 extending across the rear edge of its supporting surface 83, and in a similar manner, the lower shelf 82 has a pair of upwardly projecting flanges 112 and 113 extending across the rear edge of its supporting surface 95. A panel 115 is carried in the opposed slots formed by the flanges 110-113 to extend between the upper and lower shelves 80 and 82. Conveniently, the flange 113 is shorter than flange 111 to facilitate insertion of the panels 115 in the opposed slots on said shelves.

The panel 115 is provided with a plurality of openings 116, and a series of hangers are provided with each of said hangers having at its rear edge an upwardly turned hook 122 and a rearwardly projecting finger 124. As shown in FIG. 6, the hooks and fingers 122 and 124 are insertable in the panel openings 116 for mounting the hangers in a forwardly projecting position on said panel. Each of the hangers has a recess 126 formed in-its upper face intermediate the length thereof, and the forward edge of said hanger terminates in a rearwardly open hook 128. With a plurality of the hangers 120 mounted on the panel 116 in horizontal alinement, a removable shelf 130 can be mounted thereon. As shown in FIG. 6, each of the shelves 130 has a downwardly projecting transverse bead 136 on its lower face receivable in the hanger recesses 126 and an upwardly projecting transverse bead 134 along its forward edge receivable in the hanger hooks 128 for thus releasably locking the shelf 130 on a series of the hangers 120.

As shown in the drawings, the shelves 80 and 82, together with the panel 116, act in combination with two laterally spaced columns of the cabinets 9 to form a central cabinet spanning the two columns of cabinets. it may be desirable to enclose the central cabinet formed by the shelves 80 and 82, and to this end, the forward edge of the supporting surface 83 of shelf 80 terminates in a downwardly projecting flange 140. A pair of ribs 141 and 142 disposed in fore and aft relation to each other and to the flange extend transversely of the supporting surface 83 and act in combination with the flange 140 to form a pair of transverse slots in the lower face of shelf 80. In a similar manner, the forward edge of the supporting surface 95 on shelf 82 terminates in an upwardly projecting flange 145. A pair of upwardly projecting ribs 146 and 147 extend upwardly from the supporting surface 95 in fore and aft spaced relation to each other and to the flange 145 to thus form a pair of upwardly disposed slots with a pair of downwardly open slots formed in the shelf 80. A pair of doors and 151 are slidably carried in the opposed slots formed in the front edges 'of the'shelves 80 and 82 to thus close the front of the cabinet structure formed by said shelves. As shown, said doors are in fore and aft spaced relation and each is provided with a handle 154. Each of the doors 150 and 151 has a lateral extent slightly greater than one-half of the lateral extent of the supporting surfaces 83 and 95, and to facilitate insertion of said doors into the shelf slots, the ribs 146 and 147 have a vertical height slightly less than the depth of the upper shelf ribs 141 and 142.

As will be understood from the foregoing, our modular cabinet structure can be assembled in a plurality of the cabinets 9 can be assemble different arrangements. For exam ple. a plurality of the cabinets 9 can be assembled to form a vertical column of cabinets of any desired height. A pair of such columns of cabinets can be assembled and interconnected by the upper shelf 80, lower shelf 82, or both. in the latter arrangement, the panel 116 and/or the doors 150 and 151 can be mounted on the shelves 80 and 82 to further refine the cabinet structure formed by the shelves 80 and 82 when they interconnect a pair of the columns of cabinets 9. In addition, in each of the foregoing arrangements, various combinations of the bins 34 and the shelves 27 can be employed in each of the cabinets 9. Thus, the construction of the cabinets 9 and the shelves 80 and 82 provide a multiplicity of cabinet arrangements to satisfy different design requirements, with each of said arrangements being easily assembled and disassembled.

We claim:

1. A modular cabinet structure comprising a plurality of vertically spaced cabinets each of which includes a pair of side walls interconnected by back, top and bottom walls, means on said back wall for connecting the cabinet structure to a supporting surface, pairs of guides projecting inwardly from said side walls, a pair of doors slidably carried in said guides, cooperating means on said guides and doors for releasably retaining each of said doors in an open position, locating means projecting upwardly from said top wall into engagement with the bottom wall of the next higher cabinet for disposing said cabinets in vertically spaced relation; and

fastening means interconnecting the top and bottom walls on adjacent pairs of cabinets.

' 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said locator means comprises integrally connected front, side and back wall members extending upwardly from the cabinet top wall and disposed inwardly from the cabinet side and back walls, and said fastening means extend between said pairs of adjacent cabinets within the extents of said front, side and back wall members 3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that a plurality of vertically spaced flanges project inwardly from said side and back walls, and a plurality of shelves are removably carried on said flanges and the cabinet bottom wall.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3 in which each of said shelves has a supporting surface provided with a plurality of downwardly spaced legs for supporting said supporting surfaces above the planes of said flanges and bottom walls.

5. The invention as setforth in claim 1 with the addition that a plurality of vertically spaced flanges project inwardly from said side and back walls, and a bin is removably supported by said bottom wall with its sides supported against said flanges.

6. The invention asset forth in claim 1 with the addition that said back walls are provided with a plurality of openings having rearwardly projecting grommets and adapted to receive a plurality of fasteners for mounting the cabinet on a supporting structure, and a plurality of rearwardly projecting ribs are provided on said back wall, the rear faces of saidgrommets and.

ribs being coplanar.

7. A modular cabinet structure comprising a plurality of cabinets; each of which includes a pair of side walls interconnected by back, top and bottom walls, means on said back wall for connecting the cabinet structure to a supporting surface, guides means projecting inwardly from said side walls, at least one door slidably carried in said guide means, locator means projecting upwardly from said top wall; fastening means interconnecting the top and bottomwalls of adjacent pairs of cabinets; and a base support having a pair of side walls interconnected by front and top walls, said base support top wall abutting the bottom wall of the lowermost cabinet and provided with a plurality of openings for reception of fastening means whereby said base support can be connected to said lowermost cabinet at a plurality of different positions.

8. A modular cabinet structure, comprising a plurality of cabinets arranged in a pair of laterally spaced columns, each cabinet including a pair of side walls interconnected by top, bottom, and back walls, guide means projecting inwardly from said side walls, at least one door slidably carried in said guide means, means on said back wall for connecting the cabinet to a supporting structure, locator means projecting upwardly from said top wall, an upper shelf interconnecting said columns and having a pair of sockets lockingly received over the locator means on apair of said cabinets in said columns; a lower shelf interconnecting said columns and having a pair of sockets lockingly received over the locator means on another pair of said cabinets in said columns; and fastening means interconnecting the cabinettop and bottom walls on adjacent cabinets in each column and to the adjacent sockets on said shelves.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 8 in which said locator means comprise front, side and back wall members on said top walls, and said sockets on said upper and lower shelves have vertically extending front, side and back wall portions received over said front, side and back wall members, the upper edges of the wall'members on said lower shelf abutting the bottom walls on the next higher cabinets above said lower shelf.

'10. The invention as set forth in claim 8 with the addition that said upper and lower shelves have opposed slots extending between their end sections, a panel is carried in said slots, and at least one" intermediate shelf is interconnected to said Panel 11. The invention as set forth in claim 10 in which said I panel has a plurality of openings formed therein, a plurality of hangers provided with books lockingly received in said openings are mounted on said panel, and said intermediate shelf is removably supported on said hangers.

12. The invention as set forth in claim 11 in which said hangers have recesses and rearwardly open hooks formed in their upper faces, and saidintermediate shelf has a first longitudinally extending bead received in said recesses and a second longitudinally extending bead received; in said recesses.

13. The invention as set forth in claim 8 in which said upper and lower shelves have pairs of transversely extending guides adjacent their front edges, the guides in each pair being disposed infore and aft spaced relation, and a pair of doors are slidably carried in said transversely extending guides.

14. The invention as set forth in claim 8 in which said upper and lower shelves have pairs of transversely extending guides adjacent their front edges, the guides in each pair being disposed in fore and aft spaced relation, a pair of doors are slidably carried in saidtransversely extending guides, a pair of opposed slots in said upper and lower shelves adjacent the rear thereof, a panel carried in said slots, and at least one intermediate shelf interconnected to said panel.

15. A modular cabinet structure, comprising a plurality of cabinets arranged in a pair of laterally spaced columns, each cabinet including a pair of side walls interconnected by top, bottom, and back walls, guide means projecting inwardly from said side walls, at least one door slidably carried in said guide means, means on said back wall for connecting the cabinet to a supporting structure, locator means projecting upwardly from said top wall, a transverse shelf interconnecting said columns and having a pair of sockets lockingly received over the locator means on a pair of said cabinets in said columns; and fastening means interconnecting the cabinet top and bottom walls on adjacent cabinets in each column and interconnecting each of said sockets to at least one-cabinet in each column. 

